Drishyam The Conclusion opens in theatres on October 2, and its director has used the trailer launch to talk less about the twists and more about the years that got him here.

Abhishek Pathak, who has helmed the franchise's last two instalments, turned 39 this year, and traced how his personal life ran alongside the making of these films. He married actress Shivaleeka Oberoi while shooting Drishyam 2. By the time this third film wrapped, he was a father.

"This is a journey of 12 years," Pathak said, recalling how the franchise's decade-plus run has outlasted most expectations for a suspense series built on one twisty premise. "I think nobody had thought that we'd be standing here together after 12 years, and complete this journey of part 3."

He didn't hold back on how much the domestic side mattered. "I am 39 today and in part 2, I married Shivaleeka and now in part 3, I have a daughter. I became a father. It is emotional, and Shivaleeka has been a part of it since Drishyam 2, giving me peace, giving me support. Filmmaking is intense, and she kept me sane. It is a great journey, a long journey."

It's an unusually candid admission for a director sitting on what's meant to be the closing chapter of a franchise built on precision plotting and misdirection. Where Drishyam has always sold itself on the tightness of its script, Pathak's remarks point to a much messier, more human backstory behind the camera, one where marriage and parenthood landed in the same stretch as years of deadlines.

Oberoi has featured in his account of the franchise since the second film, and Pathak credits her presence for helping him get through what he calls an intense process. There's no getting around how demanding a three-film run can be for a director, especially one working inside a story where the ending has to justify everything that came before it.

Drishyam The Conclusion carries that pressure into its own release now. The film is billed as the closing instalment of a story that began 12 years ago, and expectations around how it wraps things up will only build as October 2 gets closer. Whether the film matches the emotional weight Pathak places on its making is something audiences find out once it's actually running in cinemas.